Microblogging

Tweetbot allows users to customize their Twitter-viewing experience, and operates using the platform’s API. Image: Postmodern Studio (Shutterstock)The hits don’t stop coming as Twitter’s change-of-hands into billionaire Elon Musk’s grasp continues. Earlier this month, third-party apps like Tweetbot were barred from Twitter’s application program interface (API) without reason. Now Twitter is giving a reason—it’s just a very, very vague reason.“Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps…

Photo: Pool (Getty Images)Last week, Joe Biden wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for Congress to pass legislation that would regulate large tech companies. In the essay, titled, “Republicans and Democrats, Unite Against Big Tech Abuses,” he specifically rejoins Congress to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Biden wrote, “We need Big Tech companies to take responsibility for the content they spread and the algorithms they use. That’s why I’ve long said we must fundamentally reform…

A long list of third-party Twitter clients, including Tweetbot, Twitterific, Echofon, and Fenix aren’t working. The apps, which all rely on access to Twitter’s application program interface (API) to get data, have been facing issues since Thursday night, according to multiple online posts from app developers, and as first reported by The Verge.“Tweetbot and other clients are experiencing problems logging in to Twitter. We’ve reached out to Twitter for more details, but haven’t heard back,” wrote Tapbots on the Tweetbot…

Screenshot: TwitterIt’s fair to say it’s been a busy few months for Twitter, with a lot of changes coming in a short amount of time. Those changes have included a revamp of how checkmarks and account labels are used, and if your head is spinning while scrolling through your Twitter timeline, then we’re here to carefully and calmly explain what eachbadge and icon means... at least until the next revamp.Blue checkmark (new)Twitter has recently changed how blue checkmarks work. Now, they indicate that an account is paying…

Elon Musk needs to find ways to have Twitter make more money to justify his $44 billion purchase of the platform.Photo: Press Association (AP)Twitter CEO Elon Musk is desperate for new revenue streams as the company has hemorrhaged advertisers ever since he took over last October. As part of this endeavor to make the bird app finally make some money, the company is considering monetizing users’ very names on the platform.The New York Times reports that back in December, people working at Twitter held talks about selling…

News about a sale or about its questionable future seem to be the only things that get Parler in the mainstream nowadays.Photo: Ascannio (Shutterstock)Parlement Technologies, the parent company of the far-right social media site Parler, is working with a skeleton crew after laying off most of its employees, according to a new report by the Verge. Parler, a brief bastion of conservative social media, has been whittled away for months now, and it may not have much of a future. As reported by the Verge, Parlement began…

As Twitter continues to circle the drain fueled by chaos from CEO Elon Musk, one user noticed something peculiar about tweet replies. After digging a little deeper, user Pieter Levels—who goes by @levelsio on the platform—found that some users are apparently now using the popular text-generating AI ChatGPT to reply to tweets.It all started with a tweet at 8:56 a.m., where Levels jokes about his nomadic friends using a typical two line meme format. Seven minutes later, Levels received a reply from an account with a display…

Twitter has once again rushed to undo an impulsive new policy less than a day after introducing it. This week’s victim: Elon Musk’s sudden decision to ban external links to other social media sites. For anyone still catching up, Twitter on Sunday published a since-deleted blog post saying it would no longer allow the, “free promotion of certain social media platforms,” on its site. That ban covered accounts created for the sole creation of advertising but also, crucially, would have applied to content linking out to…

Twitter’s locking the hatches to keep users from jumping off its sinking ship.Late Thursday evening the site reportedly began blocking links to popular servers at Mastodon, Twitter’s emerging competitor. Twitter also suspended Mastodon’s official Twitter page. The blocks occurred just hours after Twitter began purging the accounts of prominent journalists who’ve written critically about owner Elon Musk in the past.Users who try to rapidly tweet out Mastodon links will reportedly receive an error message from Twitter…

Jack Dorsey has touted the ideals of “decentralization” in everything from bitcoin to social media platforms.Photo: Joe Raedle (Getty Images)Twitter co-founder and ex-CEO Jack Dorsey has not had it easy the past few weeks. After being hounded on the internet by mobs of Elon Musk fans wanting his blood for what’s been presented in the so-called “Twitter Files,” Dorsey finally came out late Tuesday not to apologize for banning former President Donald Trump, but to apologize for ever even creating moderation tools in the…